BACKGROUND: All health workers should take responsibility for infection prevention and control (IPC). Recent reduction in key reported healthcare-associated infections in the UK is impressive, but the determinants of success are unknown. It is imperative to understand how IPC strategies operate as new challenges arise and threats of antimicrobial resistance increase. METHODS: The authors undertook a retrospective, independent evaluation of an action plan to enhance IPC and 'ownership' (individual accountability) for IPC introduced throughout a healthcare organization...

Data sourcesPubMed, Embase, Ebsco/PsycInfo, Ebsco/CINAHL and ISI/Web of Science databases.Study selectionStudies that evaluated the association between the psychosocial correlates and oral hygiene behaviour varying from self-reports to clinical measurements, including plaque and bleeding scores were considered.Data extraction and synthesisTwo reviewers independently selected studies, abstracted data and assessed study quality using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.ResultsTwenty-four studies were included providing 31 datasets...

In the current article, we review existing models of the etiology of voice hearing. We summarize the argument and evidence that voice hearing is primarily a dissociative process involving critical aspects of self. We propose a complementary perspective on these phenomena that is based on a modern behavioral account of complex behavior known as relational frame theory. This type of approach to voice hearing concerns itself with the functions served for the individual by this voice hearing; the necessary history, such as trauma, that establishes these functions; and the relevant dissociative processes involving self and others...

The capabilities of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for characterization of colloidal particles were evaluated for 100, 300, and 460 nm nominal diameter polystyrene (PS) latexes. First the accuracy of measuring the effective refractive index (neff) of turbid colloids using SPR was quantified. It was concluded that for submicrometer sized PS particles the accuracy is limited by the reproducibility between replicate injections of samples. An SPR method was developed for obtaining the particle mean diameter (dpart) and the particle number concentration (cp) by fitting the measured neff of polystyrene (PS) colloids diluted in series with theoretical values calculated using the coherent scattering theory (CST)...

Life is so remarkable, and so unlike any other physical system, that it is tempting to attribute special factors to it. Physics is founded on the assumption that universal laws and principles underlie all natural phenomena, but is it far from clear that there are 'laws of life' with serious descriptive or predictive power analogous to the laws of physics. Nor is there (yet) a 'theoretical biology' in the same sense as theoretical physics. Part of the obstacle in developing a universal theory of biological organization concerns the daunting complexity of living organisms...

CONTEXT: Observational research is increasingly being used in health professions education (HPE) research, yet it is often criticised for being prone to observer effects (also known as the Hawthorne Effect), defined as a research participant's altered behaviour in response to being observed. This article explores this concern. METHODS: First, this article briefly reviews the initial Hawthorne studies and the original formulation of the Hawthorne Effect, before turning to contemporary studies of the Hawthorne Effect in HPE and beyond...

Sense of coherence (SOC) and mindfulness (MI) are believed to promote the health and well-being of individuals and organisations. The aim of this longitudinal study was to contribute to the literature on the development of SOC through training and interventions and thereby explore the development of these constructs in a group of senior professionals in the German Catholic Church. A sample of eight participants voluntarily enrolled for a 12-day training programme spread over a period of nine months to develop intercultural and inter-religious competencies, SOC and MI...

Recently, lens-free imaging has evolved as an alternative imaging technology. The key advantages of this technology, including simplicity, compactness, low cost, and flexibility of integration with other components, have facilitated the realization of many innovative applications, especially, in the fields of the on-chip lens-free imaging and sensing. In this review, we discuss the development of lens-free imaging, from theory to applications. This article includes the working principle of lens-free digital inline holography (DIH) with coherent and semi coherent light, on-chip lens-free fluorescence imaging and sensing, lens-free on-chip tomography, lens-free on-chip gigapixel nanoscopy, detection of nanoparticles using on-chip microscopy, wide field microscopy, and lens-free shadow image based point-of-care systems...

Cross-frequency coherence of acoustic signals in a turbulent atmosphere is an important consideration for source localization with acoustic sensor arrays and for remote sensing of the atmosphere with sodars and tomography techniques. This paper takes as a starting point recently derived, closed-form equations for the spatial-temporal correlation function of a broadband acoustic signal propagating in a turbulent atmosphere with coupled spatial-temporal fluctuations in temperature and wind velocity. This theory is employed to calculate, based on the Rytov approximation, the two-point, two-time, two-frequency mutual coherence function of plane and spherical waves in the weak scattering regime...

: Reports an error in "Resilience in Palestinian Adolescents Living in Gaza" by Rozanna J. Aitcheson, Soleman H. Abu-Bader, Mary K. Howell, Deena Khalil and Salman Elbedour (Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Advanced Online Publication, May 30, 2016, np). In the original article, there were grammatical errors to the Method section of the abstract and the Method subsection Participants. Corrections are provided in the erratum. All versions of this article have been corrected...

Long-lived spin coherence and rotationally ordered radical pairs have previously been identified as key requirements for the radical pair mechanism of the avian magnetic compass sense. Both criteria are hard to meet in a biological environment, where thermal motion of the radicals creates dynamic disorder and drives efficient spin relaxation. This has long been cited as a major stumbling block of the radical pair hypothesis. Here we combine Redfield relaxation theory with analytical solutions to a rotational diffusion equation to assess the impact of restricted rotational motion of the radicals on the operation of the compass...

This article highlights certain inconsistencies that exist in modern lexicography with respect to word meaning representation and proposes an alternative outlook on the nature of word meaning based on the principles of the functional linguo-anthropological theory. Through the case study of the lexeme bank , it has been demonstrated that word meaning can be presented as a more coherent structure if only the functional evaluative nature of language be taken into account more accurately while compiling a dictionary entry...

BACKGROUND: The Swedish Education Act (2011) mandated a new combination of services to boost students' physical health, their mental health and special education through interprofessional pupil health and well-being (PH) teams. For Swedish school nurses, providing these services presents new challenges. AIM: To describe how Swedish school nurses experience their work and collaboration within the interprofessional PH teams. METHODS: Twenty-five school nurses (SNs) were interviewed in five focus groups...

A model for the coherence properties of free-electron lasers (FELs) in time and frequency domains is introduced within the framework of classical second-order coherence theory of nonstationary light. An iterative phase-retrieval algorithm is applied to construct an ensemble of field realizations in both domains, based on single-pulse spectra measured at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) in self-amplified spontaneous emission mode. Such an ensemble describes the specific FEL pulse train in a statistically averaged sense...

The paper explores a process of growth represented in the interplay of Jane Austen's characterizations of Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, approaching the text through the lens of psychoanalytic theories on oedipal sibling rivalry, separation, and processes of change. A close reading of Sense and Sensibility tracks Marianne Dashwood's repudiation of any 'second attachment' as the surface of an unconscious fantasy, denying a rival for the mother's love. A psychoanalytic view contrasts Marianne's lack of separation from her mother, her use of denial and projection, and her near death after losing the man she loves, with her older sister Elinor Dashwood's capacities for depression, reflection, and greater acceptance of loss and separation...

OBJECTIVE: Salutogenesis focuses on identifying the causes of health rather than the causes of illness, and in this way offers a health promotion framework for maternity services. The application of salutogenesis theory in empirical studies of healthy women in maternity care appears to be rare, and mostly incomplete. The objective of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) assessing sense of coherence (SOC) in a population of healthy Norwegian women during the postnatal period...

Four experiments examined spatial correlates of the experience of coherence, that is, the extent to which propositions "fit together." Experiment 1 demonstrates for Heiderian triads (i.e., sets of liking/disliking relations between 3 fictitious persons) that name pairs from balanced triads, such as 2 friends commonly disliking a third person (high coherence) are seen as closer to each other in physical space as compared to name pairs from unbalanced triads, such as 2 persons disliking each other and having a common friend (low coherence)...

BACKGROUND: As many as 88% of heart transplant recipients (HTRs) suffer from psychological distress. Both psychosocial factors and physical health are associated with increased psychological distress. However, the causes and impacts of psychological distress are unclear. HTRs strive for a sense of control over their health and daily lives in order to improve their psychological well-being. Perceived control was found to be related to the patients' construction of normality, their emotional state, as well as their thoughts and feelings of uncertainty about the future...

PURPOSE: Adults with cerebral palsy (CP) experience multiple, functional changes as they age, including changes to communication modes and methods that enable development and maintenance of relationships, communicative participation and quality-of-life. Little is known about the nature of communication changes experienced by this group. The aim of this study was to better understand how adults with CP experience changes in their communication abilities as they age and the subsequent psychosocial impact...

We establish an operational theory of coherence (or of superposition) in quantum systems, by focusing on the optimal rate of performance of certain tasks. Namely, we introduce the two basic concepts-"coherence distillation" and "coherence cost"-in the processing quantum states under so-called incoherent operations [Baumgratz, Cramer, and Plenio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 140401 (2014)]. We, then, show that, in the asymptotic limit of many copies of a state, both are given by simple single-letter formulas: the distillable coherence is given by the relative entropy of coherence (in other words, we give the relative entropy of coherence its operational interpretation), and the coherence cost by the coherence of formation, which is an optimization over convex decompositions of the state...